Rubidium-82, a positron emitter with a half-life of 75-sec readily obtainable from the parent Sr-82 (T.sub.1/2 =25 days). Rubidium can be used as a diffusible flow tracer for the myocardium and kidney, and as a nondiffusible tracer for brain blood flow. Serial injections of Rb-82 can be administered every 5 to 10 minutes by eluting (milking) Rb-82 from its 25-day Sr-82 parent. The advantages of Rb-82 are low radiation dose, ability to provide for repeated examinations every 5 minutes without constraints from body background, and a convenient and economical supply of a short-half-life positron emitter. (Yano et al., The Journal of Nuclear Medicine 20:961-966, 1979.)
Significant quantities of .sup.82 Sr are available for clinical investigation. The short-lived daughter, 75-second .sup.82 Rb, is a value in biomedicine for circulation and perfusion studies as well as for myocardial imaging as mentioned in U.S. Pat. No. 3,953,567.
Loc[h et al. J. Nucl. Med. 21: 171-173, 1980 disclose a tin dioxide (SnO.sub.2)/HCl Ga-68 generator.
Arino et al. Int. J. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 29: 117-120, 1978 disclose a .sup.68 Ge/.sup.68 Ga radioisotope generator system which uses polyantimonic acid to selectively adsorb Ge and not Ga. The adsorption was speculated to be due to a dehydration reaction forming chemical bonding between Sb and Ge through oxygen.
Neirinckx et al. disclose titanium oxide in a generator for ionic gallium-68, see second International Symposium on Radiopharmaceutical Chemistry MRC. Oxford, 1978, p. 109.
Kopecky et al. Int. J. Appl. Radiat. Isot. 25: 263-268, 1974 disclose a .sup.68 Ge/.sup.68 Ga generator for the production of .sup.68 Ga in an ionic form. Aspects of the adsorption of carrier-free .sup.68 Ge and .sup.68 Ga on alumia, Al(OH).sub.3 and Fe(OH).sub.3 are discussed.